‘See ball, hit ball’, New Zealand duo belt 43 runs off single over

Central Districts medium pacer Willem Ludick earned an unwanted place in the record books yesterday when Northern Districts took 43 runs off one of his overs in a domestic one-day cricket match in New Zealand.

Northern Districts batsmen Joe Carter and Brett Hampton belted six sixes — two of which were hit off no balls — a four and a single during the first class match at Hamilton’s Seddon Park.

Carter finished on 102 not out, while Hampton was dismissed for 95 as Northern Districts scored 313 for seven in their 50 overs in the game that they eventually won by 25 runs. Ludick finished with figures of 85 for one off 10 overs.

“It was right at the end and I suppose it was a ‘see ball, hit ball’ scenario,” said Hampton. “We got a couple of free no balls which helped us to get going.

“We came together (at the end of the over) and said ‘how many did we get on that?’ I think we said it was 39. We missed a four there.”

Although batting greats Ravi Shastri and Garry Sobers famously smashed six sixes off the overs of Tilak Raj and Malcolm Nash respectively in first class matches, the world record is by no means clear. South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs also hit six sixes for a tally of 36 off Netherlands legspinner Daan van Bunge during a 2007 World Cup match in St. Kitts, the most in an international one-dayer. Website Cricinfo, in what it allows is a potentially incomplete list, awards the first class one-day record to Zimbabwe international Elton Chigumbura, who belted 39 off Alauddin Babu during one over in Bangladesh in 2013.

They discounted the 77 runs that former New Zealand batsman Robert Vance conceded during a first-class match against Canterbury in 1990.